BERLIN – Bayern Munich have form.
And we're not talking about their results on the pitch.
Their patchy recent performances, culminating in a 5-1 thrashing at
Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, has cost coach Niko Kovac his job at
the club despite his leading the record German champions to a league
and cup double last season.
However, when it comes to replacing coaches, Bayern are nothing if
not a model of consistency.
Kovac's autumn departure has close parallels to the exit of Carlo
Ancelotti two years ago.
The veteran Italian coach was dismissed in late September 2017
shortly after a 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions
League.
Like Kovac, he did not last long in Munich, having been appointed in
July 2016. And like Kovac, winning a Bundesliga title was not enough
to save him.
Even club statements on the parting of the ways of two coaches were
eerily similar.
Sport director Hasan Salihamidzic said he was now "expecting a
positive development from our players" in a sentence on the club
website which repeats word for word club chairman Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge's statement following Ancelotti's departure.
Ancelotti had to deal with disgruntled leading players he had left on
the bench, a problem also faced by Kovac, who if German media reports
are to be believed, did not have the wholesale support of his squad.
The Bayern management have never been afraid to act in such cases.
Otto Rehhagel, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Felix Magath, Juergen Klinsmann, Jupp
Heynkes and Louis van Gaal are among those who have all "parted
company" with the club, to use the euphemism for an early contract
termination.
Pep Guardiola, now at Manchester City, has been one of the few
exceptions to turn down a new contract and leave on his own volition.
Bayern's management may also feel they have learned the lessons of
2009 when the team lost 5-1 in Wolfsburg, but when they retained
former player Klinsmann for another five matches before finally
ending his contract.
"Giving Kovac another chance would have been the decent thing," the
Bild newspaper commented. "But if you look at how many weak matches
there have been in the Kovac term despite the double it would not
have been consistent."
The question now is who will fill the Bayern hot seat?
Assistant coach Hansi Flick is in charge for this week's Champions
League trip to Olympiakos and the key Bundesliga duel at home to
Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
President Uli Hoeness turned to his old friend and playing partner
Heynckes to steer the club following the exit of Ancelotti, as he did
in 2009 after Klinsmann left.
Heynckes had in 1991 been dismissed by Bayern after he had secured
the league title in 1989 and 1990, a decision which Hoeness, then the
club's general manager, said was "my biggest mistake."
Heynckes, now 74, made it clear he was now retiring full time when he
made way at the end of the 2017-18 season.
It leaves up to a dozen candidates for the job, although the likes of
Juergen Klopp (Liverpool), Thomas Tuchel (PSG) and Joachim Loew
(Germany) can probably be ruled out.
Among possible candidates are Erik Ten Hag of Ajax, Ralf Rangnick,
who has a sport directorship role at Red Bull, former Juventus coach
Massimiliano Allegri, former Porto, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid
and Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho, former Bayern players Xabi
Alonso and Mark van Bommel, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger,
Bayern junior coach and former player Miroslav Klose and Tottenham
Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Bayern will likely give themselves some time to find a successor. An
international break in any case follows the Dortmund game, and
reports suggest former player Flick could be at the helm until the
winter break.